Health & Safety

Work can be dangerous. According to a newspaper report, Cork County Council workers were working on the public road in hazardous circumstances. They had, allegedly, created the hazard for themselves and passing traffic. Their superiors were, reportedly, upset to hear of the incident. Any such upset is understandable for a number of reasons. Road repair is a work of civil engineering and is regulated by the Construction Regulations 2006. Planning and correctly executing construction or engineering works is important. The […]

One in three accidents at work occurs in connection with “manual handling”. Employers owe a legal duty of care to their employees. The duty of care includes taking reasonable steps to ensure the health and safety of employees and to avoid accidents at work. The precise terms of the duty of care may be found in the law of negligence or it may be found in a statute, as a precise legal rule. In the case of the obligation to […]

We are rightly worried about our beef burgers. The supposed international criminal conspiracy undermining the meat industry is easily located; it is the meat industry. But the meat industry is not unique. Consider our bread. We have been suspicious about it for a long time. When white bread was invented or introduced it was popular with the rich; they felt more confident that they were not eating bread contaminated with mouse droppings or insects or their body parts. (Bleached excrement […]

Heat cramps will very likely ensue caused by a loss of salt through perspiration. Continued lack of attention to the problem can lead to heat collapse . There are variations of tolerance between individuals but heat collapse will ensue in more than two thirds of cases where body heat reaches 40-43° C. The worker will abruptly lapse into a coma. He/she will require immediate hospitalisation and immediate attempts to lower the body temperature. If the worker is to survive, his/her deep body temperature must be reduced to at least 40° C.

EU-OSHA The European Agency for Health and Safety at Work The European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA) is an element of the European Union. Its purpose is that of an integrating and educational authority on questions of occupational safety and health for the EU and EFTA and EU membership candidate countries. It has, for example, produced an iPad App to assist employers in making occupational risk assessment. See it HERE. Its full range of publications on Occupational Safety and […]